DeReK WaTSoN’s Post

The first week of June started on a positive note for the Indian startup ecosystem, with the weekly VC funding crossing $300 million for only the third time this year. Startups raised a total of $355 million in VC funding, cutting across 13 deals. In contrast, the previous week saw a total infusion of $197 million. Key transactions 💰 - Lenskart.com raised $200 million in secondary investment from Temasek and Fidelity Investments. - Fibe.India (Formerly EarlySalary) raised $90 million from TR Capital, Trifecta Capital, Amara Partners, TPG Rise Fund, Norwest Venture Partners, and Eight Roads. - Ather Energy raised Rs 286 crore ($34.5 million) from Stride Ventures and co-founders, Tarun Mehta and Swapnil Jain. Find out more here 👇 https://lnkd.in/e4MdCU4h by Thimmaya Poojary | #FundingWithYS #Funding #Startups Astrotalk Testsigma LogicLadder Clodura.AI BIGGUYS Maino.ai DocPlix

Mr. Avnish Sabharwal, Chairman, CII CIES CVC Conference & Managing Director, Accenture Ventures, highlighted that “strategic investments are primarily focused on new product and service offerings. Over the last 10 years, 9,500 investors have backed Indian startups, with AI emerging as the top area of interest for Corporate Venture Capitalists (CVCs). #InvestInInnovation #CIIConference2024 #FutureOfInvestment #BusinessGrowth #SuccessJourney #nationalinvestorsconference #nationalinvestors #startups #Cii4startups

Why are top VC funds in India launching early-stage accelerator programs? 🤔 The venture capital market is heating up, and major players like Accel, Sequoia, and Chiratae are making bold moves to invest earlier than ever before. With increased competition and a growing number of startups, VCs are looking to secure their place in the ecosystem by launching pre-seed and seed-stage programs. 🚀 In this carousel, we dive into: • The key programs launched by leading VCs • How early-stage investing is shaping the future of startups • Why 2023-2024 is a pivotal moment for the Indian startup scene Swipe through to explore how VC funds are not only seeking high returns but also actively shaping India’s startup ecosystem. #StartupEcosystem #IndianStartups #VentureCapital #EarlyStageFunding #Accel #Sequoia #BlumeVentures #StartupChai

In a nod to India's growing presence in spacetech, India's Budget 2024 carved out a Rs 1,000 crore venture capital fund for startups. Reactions to the size of the fund across the ecosystem have been mixed but it's still significant for this emerging segment. Space technologies as whole have been given attention with the budget allocation for the Department of Space, which oversees ISRO, being increased by nearly 18% to over Rs 13,000 crore. Last November, the team at Lightbox published a quick analysis of the opportunities for startups in spacetech in our newsletter. Here are the highlights from that analysis. For more insights on India's startup and consumption economy, subscribe to our newsletter here: https://lnkd.in/danTRVNM #space #spacetech #startups #insights #venturecapital #technology #funding

Reporting on the latest VC funding trends: This week, Indian startups raised $223M across 25 deals, down from $355M last week. Key highlights include Battery Smart’s $65M and Indkal Technologies’ $36M raises. I see this as a reminder of the volatile nature of VC funding. It’s crucial for startups to build resilient business models and continuously innovate to attract and sustain investor interest. #fundingwithys #venturecapital #startups #investment

Venture capital (VC) funding into Indian startups dipped in the second week of June owing to the absence of large deals. 📉 This week, startups raised a total of $223 million across 25 deals. In contrast, the previous week saw $355 million. Key Transactions - 💰 Battery Smart raised $65 million from LeapFrog Investments, MUFG Bank, Panasonic, Ecosystem Integrity Fund (EIF), Blume Ventures, and BII. 💰 Consumer electronics startup Indkal Technologies Pvt Ltd Technologies raised $36 million led by Mauritius-based Aries Opportunities Fund. 💰 D2C startup Foxtale raised $18 million from Panthera Growth Partners, Matrix Partners India, and Kae Capital. by Thimmaya Poojary | #fundingwithys #funding #venturecapital #investment #startups | Ethereal Machines Smartworks RENÉE Cosmetics Arthan Finance 82°E Indigrid Technology Pvt Ltd. 🔗 Read more on the link in our comments section 👇

We're thrilled to announce the closing of our $1.5M seed funding round led by Ashish Kacholia (Lucky Investments), Anirban Lahiri (Indian pro-golfer), Aaradhana Jhunjhunwala (Dhunseri Tea & Industries), Aman Poddar, Adithya Mathews, S. Chikkarangappa (Indian pro-golfer), Apurva Ramesh Damani, Mammen Kurien, Sandeep Telang, Vanshay Goenka and Siddhi M. Each investor brings a unique perspective and a deep commitment to creating social and environmental impact. We're inspired by their willingness not just to invest financially, but to co-create the next phase of our journey with us. We will use this round of funding to scale our technologies across India, while building decentralised networks of people and machines that will allow our growing cities to better manage waste locally and efficiently. This model will reduce overall emissions from waste management by over 90% compared with the current scenario. https://lnkd.in/gv2GzDPY Read more about our work here: https://lnkd.in/gCxVw7rY Visit: https://neosan.in/ Dhwaj Bagrecha Alistair D'rozario Faisal Ansari Nitin Padmanabhan Navrun Jacob

#Update Indian venture capital firm 8X Ventures is launching a new fund of up to 300 crore rupees to invest in early-stage deeptech startups in India. The fund will focus on sectors like cleantech, biotech, and artificial intelligence, with the goal of supporting innovative companies that can address global challenges. 8X Ventures plans to invest in 18-20 startups to support over the next three years, providing initial funding of 2-5 crore rupees each, with the potential for larger investments in some companies. Read the story: https://ow.ly/CqWM50Sm7zU Chirag Gupta, Managing Partner at 8X Ventures #8XVentures #Deeptech #Cleantech #VentureCapital #Biotech #ArtificialIntelligence #StartupFunding #IndianStartups #Innovation #GlobalChallenges

VC funding into Indian startups dipped in the second week of June, with $223 million raised across 25 deals, compared to $355 million the previous week. Key transactions include Battery Smart raising $65 million, Indkal Technologies Pvt Ltd raising $36 million, and D2C startup Foxtale raising $18 million. #EmergingTiger #StartupFunding #VentureCapital #Investment #TechNews #IndianStartups #FundingUpdate

Warwick D. raises an old chestnut in his post below we hear all too often often. But is it fair? I have now personally met with over 200 founders in the past year and spent considerable time with each of them. 195 of them fall short in some or all of the following typical areas: 1) validated market opportunity. Is it a problem paying customers actually want fixed and what compelling evidence do you have to support this. 2) either poorly constructed, untested or non existent Commercialisation strategy. That is, the GTM strategy, pricing, product roadmap that supported the GTM. Most are generic unfocused strategies. 3) they have built what should be correctly called a POC and not an MVP. 4) and worse in my view, few can articulate what core metrics will drive accelerated growth for their business and why. I could go on, but the fact that so many are weak in these areas doesn’t help with their prospects for raising capital from investors. While I can’t speak for other VC’s, we build conviction by weighing in on those opportunities we like and where we think we can help in these key areas. It’s also a chance to see how well we might work with a founder prior to any possible investment. My own experience is that all too often little value is provided in meetings by investors to founders. We seek to be different by trying to impart value in each meeting, including asking the hard questions or pointing out our view of the likely challenges that lay ahead that their strategy should address. Being a founder is tough and being challenged isn’t always welcomed. But as I have been saying for decades to my teams, we can’t do anything with praise but we can with negative or challenging feedback. This is all to often where the pots of gold can be found! What do you think? #founders #capitalraising #venturecapital